Christ Episcopal Church
March 3, 2013
3 Lent C
Last July, 12 people were killed and 58 others were injured in a shooting at an Aurora, Colorado theater as they watched the midnight screening of "The Dark Knight rises." Do you think that because these people suffered in this way, they were worse sinners than other people? Late last October, Superstorm Sandy did unprecedented damage along the east coast of this country, Jamaica, Cuba, the Bahamas, and Haiti, causing billions of dollars in damage and significant loss of life. Do you think that because these people suffered in this way, they were worse sinners than other people? And in December, 20 children and 6 adults were killed in the Sandy Hook shooting. Who on earth could even begin to think that because these people suffered in this way, they were worse sinners than other people?
Jesus is asked these very questions this morning when he is approached by some people who tell him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices. Jesus himself raises the issue of the 18 people who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them. While there is no historical evidence that either of these events actually occurred, nonetheless they raise the issue of why bad things happen to good people. In fact, Jesus assumes that is the people’s question. "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than everyone else?" Jesus’ answer to his own question is a bit unsettling. "No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did."
If Jesus has just stopped with "No, I tell you," that would have been an incomplete, but satisfactory answer. While the answer would not tell us why bad things happen to innocent people, at least we would know that the sin of the victims was not responsible for the disaster. But Jesus does not stop there. He goes on to say "but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did." How does that answer the question of who is to blame for such disasters?
To further complicate matters, Jesus then tells the people a parable about a fig tree that does not produce fruit. The absentee owner of the fig tree wants to cut it down. Land is precious, and should not be wasted on trees that do not produce. But the gardener wants to fertilize the tree and give it one more chance to grow and produce fruit. What does the fig tree have to do with the people’s perceived question about whether the Galileans suffered because they were worse sinners than anyone else?
When Jesus’ listeners heard the parable of the fig tree, they would have remembered another story about a fig tree. In the third chapter of Genesis, after Adam and Eve have been created, they are set in the garden and told that they can eat anything in the garden that looks good, with one exception. They are not to eat from the tree in the center, which happens to be the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When Adam and Eve disobey God, and see that they are naked, they are ashamed. So, they sewed fig leaves together to make clothes for themselves and cover up their sin. When God confronts Adam and Eve about their disobedience, Adam blames Eve for giving him the fruit. Eve blames the serpent for tricking her. No one is willing to take responsibility for their actions. Neither Adam nor Eve is willing to repent.
In telling the parable of the fig tree, with the reference back to the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis, Jesus is calling on the carpet those who try to cover their own sin by pointing to the sins of others. There is, perhaps, no answer to the question of why bad things happen to good people. But there is an answer to the question "How are we called to live the lives we have been given while we have them?" Jesus calls the people to focus on their own repentance and get to work bearing the fruit they are called to bear. As those who witnessed the disaster at Siloam or heard about the slaughter of innocent Gentiles know, and as all of us know, life is fragile. On Ash Wednesday, as we entered Lent, we heard the words "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return" as we were invited to repent and make a new beginning. None of us are here forever. Jesus reminds all of his listeners, past and present, that now is the time to bear fruit, to repent and live life fully. The contemporary poet Mary Oliver writes in her poem The Summer Day "Doesn’t everything die at last and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"
In the reading from Exodus, God hears the cries of God’s people who were in slavery in Egypt. God calls Moses and sends him to free the people from Egypt and lead them into the land of milk and honey. This is not a God who causes towers to fall on people, or hurricanes to destroy their lives, or murderers to kill children, and Jesus’ answer to the question of whether the victims of such tragedies are worse sinners that others with the single word "no." Our God is a god of grace and mercy whose desire for us is a land of milk and honey. But our God is also a God who says to each of us "Doesn’t everything die at last and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"
Amen.
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